Jayalalithaa demands roll back in rail fare hike

Chennai: Strongly opposing the hike in railway passenger fares and freight tariff, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the increase in the interests of the poor and the middle class people.

“I appeal to the Prime Minister to roll back the hike considering the welfare of the poor and the middle class people,” she said in a statement here.

The hike would severely affect the poor and the middle class and also lead to a steep increase in prices of essential commodities and vegetables, she said.

At a time when inflation was still riding high, such a hike would only further increase it and severely affect the country's economy.

“I appeal to the Prime Minister to increase the revenue of the Railways through other avenues instead of going in for hike in passenger fare and freight rates.”Stating that the fuel cost-linked revision in passenger and freight tariff was launched by the previous UPA regime, she said the hike was supposed to have come into force on May 20 but put on hold due to Lok Sabha polls.

“This has given rise to suspicion among people as to whether NDA was following the policies of Congress-led regime,” the Chief Minister said.

Railways today effected a steep across-the-board hike of 14.2 per cent in passenger fares in all classes and a 6.5 per cent increase in freight rates.